The 2023 calendar year saw another fourteen heavyweight matchups between the United States and Canada on the international hockey stage, with both nations fighting for Gold medals, world supremacy, and the International Hockey Lineal Championship.

The IHLC started its 2023 with the final leg of the Rivalry Series, which Team USA entered the calendar year holding a 3-2 series lead, which started 3-0 until Canada won back to back games in December. It was a pair of wins, by a combined 9-1 score, that saw Canada complete the “reverse sweep” in Québec, capturing their third Rivalry Series victory.

This brought the title to the World Championships in Brampton, Ontario, Canada, which saw the host nation and defending champions unsurprisingly cruise through the group round, dispatching Team USA in the preliminary final in a nine-round shootout. But as seems to be tradition at the Women’s World, the rival that falls in the group round tends to reverse their fortune in the medal rounds, as a Hilary Knight hat-trick catapulted Team USA to their tenth Gold medal, and first since 2019.

The 2023-24 Rivalry Series marked the end of the IHLC’s calendar journey, with the first four games of the seven-game series held in the winter. Team USA captured a pair of wins on home ice to open the series in November, winning a third straight in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada to go up 3-0 in the Rivalry Series. But with echoes and hopes (for Canada) of a repeat of last year’s Rivalry Series, Canada won the 2023 finale in a shootout to bring the series to 3-1, hoping for another reverse sweep and series victory in 2024.

The following games were contested over the women’s IHLC in 2023 (click for game recaps and boxscores):
421. 🇨🇦 CAN 4-1 USA 🇺🇸 – 20 Feb 2023 – RS – Trois-Rivières 🇨🇦
422. 🇨🇦 CAN 5-0 USA 🇺🇸 – 22 Feb 2023 – RS – Laval 🇨🇦
423. 🇨🇦 CAN 3-1 FIN 🇫🇮 – 01 Apr 2023 – EX – Niagara Falls 🇨🇦
424. 🇨🇦 CAN 4-0 SUI 🇨🇭 – 05 Apr 2023 – WWC – Brampton 🇨🇦
425. 🇨🇦 CAN 5-1 CZE 🇨🇿 – 07 Apr 2023 – WWC – Brampton 🇨🇦
426. 🇨🇦 CAN 5-0 JPN 🇯🇵 – 08 Apr 2023 – WWC – Brampton 🇨🇦
427. 🇨🇦 CAN 4-3 USA 🇺🇸 (SO) – 10 Apr 2023 – WWC – Brampton 🇨🇦
428. 🇨🇦 CAN 3-2 SWE 🇸🇪 (OT) – 13 Apr 2023 – WWC – Brampton 🇨🇦
429. 🇨🇦 CAN 5-1 SUI 🇨🇭 – 15 Apr 2023 – WWC – Brampton 🇨🇦
430. 🇺🇸 USA 6-3 CAN 🇨🇦 – 16 Apr 2023 – WWC – Brampton 🇨🇦 🏅
431. 🇺🇸 USA 3-1 CAN 🇨🇦 – 08 Nov 2023 – RS – Tempe 🇺🇸
432. 🇺🇸 USA 5-2 CAN 🇨🇦 – 11 Nov 2023 – RS – Los Angeles 🇺🇸
433. 🇺🇸 USA 3-2 CAN 🇨🇦 (OT) – 14 Dec 2023 – RS – Kitchener 🇨🇦
434. 🇨🇦 CAN 3-2 USA 🇺🇸 (SO) – 16 Dec 2023 – RS – Sarnia 🇨🇦

The IHLC Rankings for 2023 were as follows (total all-time wins and rankings in parentheses):
01. 🇨🇦 CANADA – 10 wins (261, 1st)
02. 🇺🇸 UNITED STATES – 4 wins (155, 2nd)

Team Canada will carry the IHLC into the new year, with three games in the Rivalry Series remaining, set to be played in February in Saskatchewan, Canada and Minnesota, United States, with Team USA looking to avoid another four straight losses to drop the Rivalry Series. The winner of the Rivalry Series will likely be the ones to carry the IHLC into the Women’s World Championship, beginning 04 April 2023 in Utica, New York, United States.

Photo Credit: 2023 Women’s World Championship – IIHF – HHOF – IOC